Video editing software is the most important in any film or video making that's why all extreme professional video editing software is too much expensive for an individual person. But if you are an amateur video maker or just want a video editor that can give you some capabilities those are exact to professional video editor Softwares; then there are some free and open-source video editing software programs those can take your video quality and effects to next level.
Mac users who only need a simple video editor will find that Apple iMovie is the best free video editing software, because of its strong integration with Apple's operating system and easy-to-grasp. Record videos as avi, wmv, flv, mpg, mp4, mov and more video formats; Capture video from a webcam, network IP camera or video input device (e.g., VHS recorder) Screen capture software records the entire screen, a single window or any selected portion. Debut Video Capture is a webcam recording software which is free for non-commercial use. It records videos in AVI, FLV, MPG, MP4, MOV, and several other formats. It can record from webcam, external devices, computer screen, and even a streaming video recording.
I am also creating YouTube videos for this website and certainly looking for some best video editing tools that are free and open-source software (FOSS). The YouTube videos are now in trending and everybody is creating some unique kinds of stuff to make some partial income source. A beginner YouTuber wants only a simple video editing tools which he can use for his basic video editing and trim tasks with some video filter and special effects to create a masterpiece.
If you are using macOS then I don't think so you need to look for any third-party video editing software as it owns iMovie is enough. But in windows the only video editor you get pre-installed is Windows movie maker but that is only available in Windows 7 Pro version and not in Windows 8 or 10. That's why if you are a Windows user then you need a good video editing software to edit videos.
VMix runs on Windows 7, Windows 8 and Windows 10 platforms. VMix is a complete live video production software solution with features including LIVE mixing, switching, recording and LIVE streaming of SD, full HD and 4K video sources including cameras, video files, DVDs, images, Powerpoint and much much more.
Free or Opensource Video Editing Software
Also with the emerging smartphone's good camera quality, people have a video maker in their hand, and now, what they need is a good video editing tool or app to make their own videos more professional. Let's have a look at some of them:
DaVinci Resolve
DaVinci Resolve video editing software is the most professional free video editing software available for Windows. It is also the best alternative to Avid and Adobe Premiere video editing software. It is a non-linear free professional video editor with advanced colour corrector techniques. DaVinci Resolve video editor is completely scalable that's why you can use it anywhere from a small studio or in some large video production environment. From creative editing and multi-camera television production to high-end finishing and colour correction. It gives a complete set of tools to manage all your video workflow. This video editing tool is also used in Hollywood feature films.
- Website link: https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/products/davinciresolve
- License: Free
- See: DaVinci Resolve Linux edition: How to Download and Install on Ubuntu
Shotcut Open source video editor
Shotcut is a free, open-source, cross-platform video editor. It supports a ton of audio and video formats and codecs thanks to FFmpeg. This open-source video editing tool can do almost all common video editing works that a common video maker or YouTuber needs. The Shotcut multi-track compositing and visual effects may slow down playback during as it not hardware accelerated, however the final version play normally. It supports all popular image formats such as BMP, GIF, JPEG, PNG, SVG, TGA, TIFF as well as image sequences and 4K resolutions. It is the best free alternative video editor to paid Camtasia Video Editor.
- Website Link: https://www.shotcut.org/
- See: How to install Shotcut video editor on Ubuntu 19.04/LinuxMint
- License: Open-source
Lightworks
Lightworks video editor has been from a long time in the video editing industry and used in many films as website claims such as The Wall Street, LA Confidential, Pulp Fiction, Heat, Road to Perdition, Hugo and The King's Speech. It is very easy to use and comes handy to edit videos for social media, YouTube or for a 4K film project. The free version comes with a 7-day trial that can extend by simply registered free of cost. For all tools and export formats, you need to upgrade to Pro.
- Website Link: https://www.lwks.com/
- License: Open-source
Hitfilm Express
HitFilm 4 Express is a free editing and VFX software which is a strip down version of Hitfilm pro version. The free version is not the most advanced but it enough to create high quality professional and presentable videos.
HitFilm 4 Express a free video editorincludes 2D and 3D effects compositing, compatible with Mac & Windows, over 180 visual effects, free video tutorials & training, editor with transitions & unlimited tracks, MP4 H.264 Import & Export, QuickTime Import (QuickTime install required on Windows) and supports AVI, M2T, M2TS, MTS, MXF (DVCPro HD), DV, HDV, WMV Video Import.
- Website Link: https://hitfilm.com/express
- License: Free
VSDC Video Editor: A Free Software
VSDC is a non-linear video editor which is completely free with no hidden cost, trial period or watermark. You can use it for editing video files and creating videos with various visual and audio effects. The interface of this Windows video editor is simple and intuitive. It also provides some pro options such as colour correction, object transformation, object filters, transition effects, and special fx.
- Website Link: http://www.videosoftdev.com/free-video-editor
- License: Free/proprietary
KDEnlive: KDENon-Linear Video Editor
Kdenlive is an open-source video editor started in 2003 and built on Qt and the KDE Frameworks libraries. The video processing in this software is mostly done by the MLT Framework. This framework depends on many other open-source projects like FFmpeg, frei0r, movit, ladspa, sox, etc. Kdenlive also integrates many plugin effects for video and sound processing or creation.
- Website Link: https://kdenlive.org
- License: Open-source
Flowblade- free and Opensource
Another open-source multitrack non-linear video editor which meant to cater beginner to pro users. Flowblade can be installed on the Linux system along with the FFMPEG library for proper functioning. It supports 146 video formats, 78 video codecs and 58 audio codecs. Furthermore, it features Advance timeline workflow; Composite, mix, filter, animate for images and audio; G'MIC tool (an open-source image filtering technology) and intuitive user interface which is similar to Adobe premiere pro.
- Website link to download
- Platform Linux
- License: Open-source
- Website link: https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/products/davinciresolve
- License: Free
- See: DaVinci Resolve Linux edition: How to Download and Install on Ubuntu
Shotcut Open source video editor
Shotcut is a free, open-source, cross-platform video editor. It supports a ton of audio and video formats and codecs thanks to FFmpeg. This open-source video editing tool can do almost all common video editing works that a common video maker or YouTuber needs. The Shotcut multi-track compositing and visual effects may slow down playback during as it not hardware accelerated, however the final version play normally. It supports all popular image formats such as BMP, GIF, JPEG, PNG, SVG, TGA, TIFF as well as image sequences and 4K resolutions. It is the best free alternative video editor to paid Camtasia Video Editor.
- Website Link: https://www.shotcut.org/
- See: How to install Shotcut video editor on Ubuntu 19.04/LinuxMint
- License: Open-source
Lightworks
Lightworks video editor has been from a long time in the video editing industry and used in many films as website claims such as The Wall Street, LA Confidential, Pulp Fiction, Heat, Road to Perdition, Hugo and The King's Speech. It is very easy to use and comes handy to edit videos for social media, YouTube or for a 4K film project. The free version comes with a 7-day trial that can extend by simply registered free of cost. For all tools and export formats, you need to upgrade to Pro.
- Website Link: https://www.lwks.com/
- License: Open-source
Hitfilm Express
HitFilm 4 Express is a free editing and VFX software which is a strip down version of Hitfilm pro version. The free version is not the most advanced but it enough to create high quality professional and presentable videos.
HitFilm 4 Express a free video editorincludes 2D and 3D effects compositing, compatible with Mac & Windows, over 180 visual effects, free video tutorials & training, editor with transitions & unlimited tracks, MP4 H.264 Import & Export, QuickTime Import (QuickTime install required on Windows) and supports AVI, M2T, M2TS, MTS, MXF (DVCPro HD), DV, HDV, WMV Video Import.
- Website Link: https://hitfilm.com/express
- License: Free
VSDC Video Editor: A Free Software
VSDC is a non-linear video editor which is completely free with no hidden cost, trial period or watermark. You can use it for editing video files and creating videos with various visual and audio effects. The interface of this Windows video editor is simple and intuitive. It also provides some pro options such as colour correction, object transformation, object filters, transition effects, and special fx.
- Website Link: http://www.videosoftdev.com/free-video-editor
- License: Free/proprietary
KDEnlive: KDENon-Linear Video Editor
Kdenlive is an open-source video editor started in 2003 and built on Qt and the KDE Frameworks libraries. The video processing in this software is mostly done by the MLT Framework. This framework depends on many other open-source projects like FFmpeg, frei0r, movit, ladspa, sox, etc. Kdenlive also integrates many plugin effects for video and sound processing or creation.
- Website Link: https://kdenlive.org
- License: Open-source
Flowblade- free and Opensource
Another open-source multitrack non-linear video editor which meant to cater beginner to pro users. Flowblade can be installed on the Linux system along with the FFMPEG library for proper functioning. It supports 146 video formats, 78 video codecs and 58 audio codecs. Furthermore, it features Advance timeline workflow; Composite, mix, filter, animate for images and audio; G'MIC tool (an open-source image filtering technology) and intuitive user interface which is similar to Adobe premiere pro.
- Website link to download
- Platform Linux
- License: Open-source
OpenShot
OpenShot is a free, simple-to-use, feature-rich video editor for Linux, OS X, and Windows. It has the simplest user interface with drag & drop and video effects. If you are totally a newbie to videos editing you can go for this.
- Website Link: http://www.openshot.org
- License: Open-source
Pitivi Video Editing software
Pitivi is a free video editor with a beautiful and intuitive user interface. It is still new in the video editing industry and you can give one shot due to its good interface.
- Website Link: http://www.pitivi.org/
- License: Open-source
Vidcutter – free and Opensource
Vidcutter is also open source but very simple to use. It is available on flatpack that means you can install on almost every popular Linux operating system (Arch Linux, Debian, Fedora, Mageia, OpenSUSE and Ubuntu). It includes mpv, FFmpeg, MediaInfo and associated codec libraries.
Apart from Linux, it is also available for Windows as an executable file and under Chocolatey packages. Furthermore, the developer didn't leave out the MacOS and have made it available for it too. We can install on macOS it via Homebrew
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Table of contents
What's your skill level?
Storyboarding software comes in many shapes and sizes, and caters to varying abilities. If you're more comfortable drawing stick figures, you likely won't need the same features as a professional storyboard artist. When looking at different storyboard software options, consider whether you'll use the features you're paying for. For example, Toon Boom Storyboard Pro or Frameforge offer very different features compared to Storyboard That. Maybe you could start with a free storyboard template, then consider storyboard software at a later date. Sometimes, less is more.
Will you be working with other people?
Will you be making storyboards with other people? If so, you might want to stay clear of Mac, Windows, or iPad storyboarding software. Instead, look for an online storyboard creator which will allow you to collaborate with other people in real-time. Making changes is much easier when you can all access the same storyboard.
Best Software For Video Production
How will you use your storyboard?
Storyboarding is just one part of the pre-production process. If you're involved in animation or video production, you'll likely make an animatic after your storyboard is completed. In that case, you'll want to find storyboard software which integrates with the other tools in your workflow. Adobe's After Effects is a popular choice of animation software, and caters to everything from complex transition effects to character animation.
Do you need a drawing tool?
Best Video Production Software For Windows
Your storyboard will need images. There are two options; draw them yourself, or look for storyboard software with an image library. If a sophisticated drawing tool is a high priority, you should consider specialist image editing software. Adobe's Photoshop is the gold standard for many, but new tools like Procreate for iPad offer a great image editing experience too (sadly procreate isn't available for Android users yet). But, be warned! Software like Photoshop isn't set up to deal with storyboarding out of the box. Simple tasks like re-arranging frames can quickly become tedious.
What's your budget?
As a rule, storyboard software falls into two camps when it comes to price. One-time purchase desktop software for Mac & Windows, or online storyboard software, paid for with a subscription (there are also some open source options available). Traditionally, storyboard artists tend to use desktop software, although this has changed in recent years.
Storyboard Software Directory
